The Point: How Performance Analytics Can Change the Game in Banking

In many cases, financial services chief executives seem to have been unaware until the last moment of the true value being created—or destroyed—by their enterprises. Look no further than Bear Stearns.

Financial institutions often struggle to measure their business performance—with regard to their investment portfolios as well as across the enterprise as a whole. At the heart of the problem is the fact that data are generated, collected and presented inconsistently. The end result is that no “single version of the truth” actually exists: a manager in Germany may use different data sources, terminology and metrics than a counterpart in Italy. Multiple systems produce sometimes contradictory reports that complicate performance measurement, budgeting, planning and execution. Unreliable data make it difficult for the CFO to act as a strategic advisor to the CEO and business lines.

Yet some financial institutions have managed to meet the challenge of managing and competing on information and analysis. Accenture’s research into High Performance Business has addressed the subject of finance function mastery in interviews with more than 200 finance executives. One clear finding: CFOs are prioritizing enterprise performance management in order to enable their organizations to create differentiated strategies and achieve competitive advantage. Accenture has developed a new performance analytics solution for banking that can put “a single version of the truth” within the reach of senior banking executives, allowing fact-based decision-making and quick responses to opportunities and threats—thus materially strengthening a bank’s ability to achieve high performance.

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